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8. But we are far from having come to the close of this wonderful prophecy. Our Lord, as if he would yet further enlarge the proof of his divine foreknowledge, and confirm the truth of his mission, added a denunciation, of the progressive fulfilment of which we are eye-witnesses, under circumstances of advantage, to the present day. Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles shall be fulfilled-Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. The expression, the times of the Gentiles, is well known, from similar ones in the prophecies, to import the full conversion of the heathen nations. Accordingly Jerusalem, during the lapse of seventeen or eighteen hundred years, has never been in the possession of the Jews, but constantly under the dominion of the Gentiles, and by them literally trodden under foot. A late traveller states, that no expression could so graphically paint the condition of abject scorn and misery in which the city now lies, as that chosen by our Lord. The Romans, Saracens, Franks, Mamalukes, and, since the sixteenth century, the Turks, have in succession trodden it down and oppressed it. Attempts have not, indeed, been wanting to restore Jerusalem. Under the Emperor Adrian, (A. D. 117–138,) the Jews rose in rebellion and attempted to recover their lost sacred metropolis, but they were subdued with immense slaughter. A temple to Jupiter was erected on Mount Calvary, a statue of Adonis in the manger of Bethlehem, and the images of swine were engraven on the gates of Jerusalem. The Jews were forbidden even to approach within sight of the city.

In the fourth century a daring enterprise was undertaken by the apostate Emperor Julian to rebuild the temple, and reinstate the Jews. A public avowal of the design was made. The principal Jews were called together from all quarters. The execution was committed to Alypius, a favorite of the Emperor. Funds were supplied from the imperial treasures. All Christendom was awake to this open attempt to defeat the divine prophecy. And what was the issue of the contest between the truth of God and the im

(c) Jowett's Researches.

Balls

piety of man? The projected work was interrupted. of fire bursting forth from the foundations with frequent and reiterated attacks, rendered the spot inaccessible to the scorched and blasted workmen, and the attempt was renounced. Can any thing mark more visibly the foreknowledge of our Lord?

9. But an additional particular of yet greater moment is to be noticed. Our Saviour predicts the dispersion of the Jews, and yet their preservation as a distinct people-They shall be led away captive unto all nations. This threatening joins on with those delivered by the various prophets of the Old Testament, and is another of those connecting links which increase exceedingly the proof of the prophetical inspiration. Moses and Isaiah had declared that the Jews should be plucked off from their land-be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth-should find no ease, neither should the sole of their foot have rest-should be only oppressed and cursed always—should be mad for the sight of their eyes-should become an astonishment, a proverb, and a bye-word-that their cities should be wasted without inhabitants, and their houses without man, and their land be utterly desolate—that upon it should come up thorns and briers—and that then should the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lay desolate, and they were in their enemies' land.

And have not these predictions been wonderfully fulfilled. for seventeen hundred and fifty years? And are they not now fulfilled before your eyes? Are not the Jews dispersed over the world? Is not their name become a proverb? Have not all nations vilified, persecuted, and oppressed them?

(d) The record of this fact is in Ammianus Marcellinus, a heathen historian of undoubted credit, who had several honorable military commands under different emperors, and was a great admirer of Julian. The contemporary Christian writers affirm that it was in the mouths of all men, and was not denied even by the atheists themselves, "If it seem yet incredible to any one," say they, "he may repair both to the witnesses of it yet living, and to them who have heard it from their months; yea, they may view the foundations, lying yet bare and naked." Bishop Warburton has incontestably established the truth of this fact; and even Gibbon, with his usual inconsistency, acknowledges that it is attested by contemporary and respectable evidence. Whether a directly miraculous power was exerted, need not be determined; the interruption and cessation of the attempt at such a crisis, and after such preparations, mark the unquestionable hand of God.

Are not the Jews at this day an astonishment and a byeword? Are they not even obliged, in many places, where they are tolerated, to live in a separa te quarter, and wear some badge of degradation?

And is not their once fruitful land barren and desolate? "From the centre of the elevation about Jerusalem," says a recent traveller, "is seen a wild, rugged, and mountainous desert; no herds depasturing on the summit; no forests clothing the acclivities; no water flowing through the valleys; but one rude scene of savage, melancholy waste, in the midst of which the ancient glory of Judea bows her. head in widowed desolation." "f

Stil it was further declared, that the Jews should not be lost among the nations, but should remain a distinct and separate people. When they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly. I will make a full end of the nations, whither 1 have driven them; but I will not make a full end of thee. And, surely, the preservation of the Jews as a distinct people, notwithstanding their dispersion for seventeen hundred years, is a remarkable and altogether unparalleled proof of the truth of our Lord's predictions. It is not only an event in fulfilment of prophecy, but an event involving a supernatural agency; an event contrary to the uniform course of human affairs; an event in which there is a permanent suspension of all the laws of our social being. That they should continue for so many ages scattered and dispersed, pursued and reviled, oppressed and persecuted; yet neither worn out by this usage, nor induced by it to renounce their religion—that neither time nor custom nor sufferings should

(e) This was formerly the case in London, and is now so in Frankfort and elsewhere. In Rome their privileges have lately been curtailed, and a wall built around the quarter where they are compelled to reside. Of course, I by no means excuse the injustice and criminality of the conduct of Christians towards the unhappy Jews. The secret will of God in overruling events is not the law of our actions. The express moral commandments of the Almighty are our only guide. So in other fulfilments of prophecy, to which we shall presently come. The guilt of man is not lessened, because it pleases God in a mysterious manner, to accomplish his predictions in the various occurrences of the world.

(f) Jolliffe apud Keith.

overcome their attachment to it; but that they should still subsist a numerous, a distinct, a wretched people, the librarians of the very prophecies which condemn them, and the unconscious witnesses, wherever they rove, of the truth of the scriptures, has something in it so prodigious, as to conclude and shut up the proof of prophetical inspiration. And when connected with our Lord's repeated predictions of the very judicial blindness, under which we behold them suffering, constitutes an irresistible evidence of the truth of Christianity.

The whole of this series of prophecies, indeed, as to the destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews, is so broad and unambiguous in its main features, so numerous and distinct in its details, so minute in many of its parts, combines events so utterly improbable when it was delivered, is so defined as to the time of its accomplishment, was fulfilled by persons so unlikely to concur in such transactions, is connected with so many events now fulfilling in the world, looked back to so many prophecies of the Old Testament, and looked forward to so many ages of modern history, during which it has continued to receive its accomplishment-and is so incontestably confirmed by the very attempts made to defeat it, and especially by the mysterious, and, except on the hypothesis of the truth of the scriptures, the unaccountable state of the Jews before our eyes in the present day-as to constitute altogether an evidence which has never failed to overwhelm with conviction the mind of every sincere and candid inquirer; it raises the argument in favor of Christianity to the highest point of moral demonstration. It can be explained away by no fortuitous circumstances, it admits of no evasion, it stands forth a palpable, bold, unequivocal monument of the divine prescience of our Lord, and of the truth of the Christian religion.

It is for this reason that I have dwelt the longer upon this first branch of the fulfilment of prophecy. Our remaining points must be considered with greater brevity; for we still have other points of high importance to produce. The scheme of scriptural prophecy extends, as we

observed, over the whole surface of the history of the Jewish and Christian church and the nations connected with them. But I shall confine myself to the accomplishment of it in those events which remain still open to the inspection of mankind. I omit, therefore, all that mass of prophecy which was delivered by the patriarchs. I omit the immense number of predictions in the times of the Judges and Kings of Israel. I pass by those varied and numerous prescient descriptions of the nations adjoining the Jewish; and many relating to that extraordinary people themselves.

I proceed, therefore, to select,

II. The accomplishment of prophecies relating to

VARIOUS CITIES, NATIONS, AND EMPIRES OF THE WORLD, as connected with the designs of God in the development of the great work of redemption, and now submitted to the examination of mankind.

I. I speak first of cities. I will not dwell on the prophecies relating to Nineveh and Tyre. It is sufficient for me to ask, where is their former grandeur, power, riches? I ask, who it was that declared that an utter end should be made of Nineveh, that exceeding great city of three day's journey? I ask, who said of Tyre, once the most celebrated of the cities of Phoenicia, and the ancient emporium of the world-of whose colonies Carthage, the rival of Rome, was one; whose merchants were princes, and her trafficers the honorable of the earth; which sat as a queen in the midst of the seas-I ask, who it was that said of her, I will lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the waters— I will make her like the top of a rock-it shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea? I ask, who it is that has accomplished these denunciations with an exactness so unerring, that the very site of Nineveh is unknown; while that of Tyre just preserves the marks imprinted on her by the prophetic words. She is "a rock, whereon fishers dry their nets." "The whole village of Tyre contains

(g) The very words of Bruce,

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